RUSTY BLAST FROM THE PAST COULD RIDE HIGH AT AUCTION
A RUSTY 1980s Raleigh Chopper which was bought for a tenner decades ago could now fetch hundreds of pounds at auction after being rescued from a garden shed.
The battered bicycle had been gathering dust and cobwebs for the last 40 years in the back garden of Abdul Sidike, 46, in Birmingham.
The company director admitted he was embarrassed by his father’s £10 secondhand purchase in the 1980s but said he soon grew to love the iconic bicycle.
Now, after seeing a similar model which was destined for a skip had made nearly £700 at auction, he decided to get his valued.
It is now expected to fetch up to £400 when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers, in Bishton, Staffordshire, on June 28
Mr Sidike, from Balsall Heath, Birmingham, a director of an IT company, said the bike had originally been an underwhelming gift to replace a stolen BMX.
He said: “A childhood friend told me about a story describing how a rusty Raleigh Chopper had sold for around £700.
“Back in the early 1980s, when the BMX Bandits film was released, I started pestering my father for a BMX bike.
“Eventually he agreed and bought a Hawk BMX from Woolworths for £60 – money he’d painstakingly saved to satisfy my whim.
“Sadly, I outgrew the bike quickly and bought a bigger BMX. But I didn’t have that bike for a month.
“It was stolen from outside a corner shop.
“A few weeks later my father told me to collect a bike for £10 he’d bought from a second-hand shop nearby.
“My face fell when I saw the bright red Raleigh Chopper waiting for me. I’d seen these around in all sorts of colours but they’d never made much of an impression on me.
“But in a short time, I grew to love the bike and its character. It became a significant part of my childhood, a physical manifestation of my father’s love for me.
“My siblings went on to ride the
Chopper until it was forgotten and left in the shed.
“It was moved from one place to another over the years.
“Each time it saw the light of day I promised I would get it repaired and restored to its former glory. It’s time this bike was loved by another.”
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “These rusty relics from people’s childhoods in the 1970s and 80s open up a rich seam of nostalgia.
“Design classics like this are ripe for restoration. We very much hope we can find a perfect new home for Abdul’s bike.”
In April 2022, Hansons sold a Raleigh Chopper destined for the skip for a total of £692 with buyer’s premium.
In 2020 a mint condition 1970s MK2 Chopper reached £1,250 at Hansons from a £400-£600 estimate. It had never been ridden and had been stored in a bedroom.
Mr Hanson added: “Such is the power of childhood nostalgia, a vintage Chopper is worth more than its original retail price.
“In 1973 a Mk2 Raleigh Chopper cost around £34 – equivalent to £361 in today’s money.”
The Chopper, manufactured by Nottingham’s Raleigh Bicycle Company, was hugely popular due to its ground-breaking design and wheelie capabilities.
It was designed in response to the American-made Schwinn Sting-Ray chopper-style, wheelie bicycle which launched in 1962.